NOTEBOOK : Seniors Oki, Chimarios Lead Marshall Into 3-A Championship Game

The Marshall High girls’ basketball team will have experience on its side when the Barristers meet University in the City Section 3-A Division championship game Friday at 2:30 p.m. at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.

Marshall (18-3), the defending 3-A champion, defeated Birmingham, Hamilton and Roosevelt en route to the final.

The Barristers are led by senior guard Laura Oki and senior forward Tina Chimarios.

Oki, who was named 3-A Player of the Year last season, averages 22 points a game. Chimarios averages 16.

But the key player against University might be Tara Walker, a 5-foot-11 junior who grabbed 13 rebounds before fouling out in the Barristers’ 49-47 semifinal win over Roosevelt.

Marshall defeated University by 29 points early in the season, but Barrister Coach Wendy Triplett expects a close contest Friday.

“When we play teams we’ve beaten by 25 points, we have a tendency to take them lightly,” Triplett said. “The Marshall players can’t be going in there thinking we’re going to breeze.”

Goal oriented: La Canada High’s soccer team advanced to the Southern Section 1-A Division final while St. Francis was eliminated from the 4-A tournament in the semifinals Tuesday.

La Canada, the defending 1-A champion, beat Rio Hondo League rival Temple City, 3-1. The Spartans will meet Walnut in the championship Saturday at 4 p.m. at Gahr.

St. Francis lost to Cerritos, 3-0, at Cerritos.

Season ender: The Flintridge Sacred Heart and Ribet Academy girls’ basketball teams concluded successful seasons last week with losses in the semifinals of the Southern Section playoffs.

Sacred Heart lost to Morro Bay, 38-35, in a 2-AA Division game. The Tologs finished 21-5.

Ribet Academy lost a Small Schools game to Rio Hondo Prep, 49-42, and finished 16-6.

Mystery team: The Glendale College men’s basketball team waded into unknown territory Wednesday when the Vaqueros played defending state champion Cerritos in the second round of the Southern California Regionals of the state tournament.

Glendale (23-11), which defeated Citrus, 90-57, in a first-round game Saturday, had met just about every other top team in the 27-team tournament except Cerritos (22-10) this season.

Results of Wednesday night’s game were not available at press time.

Last season, Glendale lost to El Camino in the second round of the playoffs.

“Last year, we kind of had El Camino and we let it slip away,” Vaquero Coach Brian Beauchemin said. “Certain guys are going to have to step up and make the big play against Cerritos.”

Entering Wednesday night’s game, sophomore forwards Gary Fowler and David Swanson were Glendale’s leading scorers, averaging 16.6 points a game. Sophomore guard Bruce Heicke was averaging 15.7 points.

Off and running: The Occidental track team begins defense of its Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title this weekend when the Tigers begin their conference schedule with a meet against Caltech, Claremont and Pomona-Pitzer at Claremont.

Last week, in a meet with UCLA and Cal State Bakersfield, two Occidental athletes qualified for the NCAA Division III national championships.

Brady Dargan qualified in the hammer with a throw of 51.91 meters (170 feet, 4 inches) and Ben White qualified in the long jump with a distance of 7.26 meters (23 feet, 10 inches).

Occidental’s men’s 4 X 100 relay team, which already qualified for the nationals, lowered its time to 41.98 seconds.

Honor roll: Occidental center Chris Anderson was selected second-team All-West Region last week, one of the few bright spots in an otherwise disappointing season for the Tigers, who concluded their SCIAC schedule with a 74-62 loss to Pomona.

Occidental finished 10-14 overall and 6-6 in SCIAC play. The Tigers’ fifth-place finish was their lowest in five years.

Finale flourish: Sharon Bruner scored a career-high 31 points, but the Occidental women’s basketball team still lost their season finale last week against Claremont, 74-66.

The Tigers’ finished 10-15 overall and 4-6 in SCIAC play.